PCB says tainted trio will return, but Mohammad Asif seeks asylum

Lahore/London : Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt said on Thursday that there are no criminal charges against three tainted cricketers — Test captain Salman Butt and pacers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif — and they will come back to the country but fast bowler Wahab Riaz will be questioned by the police in London next week in connection with the spot-fixing scandal.

Riaz will be the fourth Pakistani player to be questioned by the Metropolitan police after the International Cricket Council (ICC) provisionally suspended Salman, Asif and Aamer last week. The Scotland Yard has also launched its own investigation.

Asif is also looking for political asylum in Britain as he fears for his life in Pakistan. He met an immigration lawyer in London and discusses the possible ways to seek asylum as a refugee.

“They were interviewed for nine hours. There are no police charges against them nor have their movements been restricted. If there was anything against them they would have been arrested. They did not arrest them. We have informed the police that they will be travelling back to Pakistan in the next few days,” Butt said.

“Police have also asked that Wahab Riaz should be made available to them for an interview on Sep 14 and we have arranged for the interview in London,” he said.

The ICC has now asked Salman and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal to hand over their phone records during the World Twenty20 in the Caribbeans.

In London, The Daily Telegraph reported that the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) has asked Butt and Akmal to provide the mobile phone numbers they used and records of calls made during the tournament in May.

The demand was made in a letter sent to the pair at the end of last month?s Oval Test against England, a week before the spot-fixing expos? in the News of the World.

In the same letter, the ACSU also asked the duo to provide similar details for Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in June.

The daily also reported that the ICC has informed Akmal that he is also under investigation but remains part of the Pakistan squad for the NatWest Series against England.

Butt said that PCB was not in a position to launch its own inquiry since the case is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police and the Scotland Yard in London.

“We are also concerned about this and we also have zero tolerance on corruption. We cannot launch a parallel investigation because the matter is already under investigation. Rest assured, we will leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of the issue.”